[Hardy-l] Re: Thoughts on 'Tess'

[Richard Nemesvari]

I don't especially want to re-open a debate which, as years of scholarly
dissent have demonstrated, can't be resolved, but at least two messages
in this thread have now categorically stated that Tess is raped in the
Chase, and I want to suggest (as have many others) that the text is
aggressively indeterminate about the event.  And this, of course, makes
it a representational crux in movie/television versions of the novel
since, although it is possible to depict ambiguity on film, sustaining
it in the case of this particular narrative is much more difficult for a
visual medium.  I'm sure everyone on this list is familiar with the
various passages that suggest one thing ("seduction") or another
("rape"), and I don't want to rehearse all of it again, but, as my
student's declare occasionally - "I'm just saying...".

 

 

Richard Nemesvari

Department of English

St. Francis Xavier University

rnemesva at stfx.ca

 

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